Chapter 27: Chess Reflects Character

 

After being stunned for a while, Ren Yijun snorted softly: “It’s just a fluke, you lass.” As he said that, he followed Han Yunqian’s previous chess move and looked sideways at Ren Yaoqi, “What would your next move be?”

Ren Yaoqi wrinkled her nose, took out another piece from the chess pot¹, and put it down gently.

Ren Yijun frowned and moved again.

The two came and went, Ren Yijun followed Han Yunqian’s previous method, and Ren Yaoqi solved them one by one. In the end, Ren Shimin’s previous defeat was miraculously reversed.

In the end, Ren Yijun’s side actually lost.

”How is this possible?” Ren Yijun stared at Ren Yaoqi in disbelief.

Ren Shimin laughed loudly, and said with a proud expression: “Yaoyao can be regarded as avenging Daddy!”

”Huh! Come again!” Ren Yijun played another game, which was the first chess game between Ren Shimin and Han Yunqian.

This time he no longer underestimated the enemy and made some changes according to Ren Yaoqi’s chess style, sometimes thinking carefully. However, Ren Yaoqi played very fast, often after Ren Yijun made a move, she followed, as if no matter how the game changed, she noted it in her mind.

In this game, Ren Yijun lost again.

In this way, even Ren Shimin, who had been watching the excitement, became serious.

Ren Yijun glanced at Ren Yaoqi, and then silently put forward his previous match with Han Yunqian. It’s just that he played Han Yunqian’s strategy, and Ren Yaoqi played his previous moves.

In the warm pavilion, the two men were all engrossed, and Ren Yaoqi also rested her chin and said nothing.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and Ren Yijun had laid out all the situations that he faced today. What is surprising is that he had lost a few pieces to Han Yunqian in the first place, but Ren Yaoqi won by a few pieces at the end, not one more and one not less.

It was fine at first, but Ren Yijun’s face became increasingly ugly as he continued, and by the time the dust settled in the final round, Ren Yijun suddenly lost his temper, slapped the table, and glared at Ren Yaoqi: “What do you mean!”

Ren Shimin also sensed that something was wrong, and frowned at Ren Yaoqi disapprovingly: “Yaoyao, Daddy didn’t realize that you are so talented in chess. It’s just that Daddy may have forgotten to teach you before, the most important thing is the chess quality². Chess quality reflects one's character, and the most fundamental thing you should do is respect your opponents. If you cannot do this, no matter how good your chess skills are, you will be looked upon by others. Since you are able to win brilliantly, why do you deliberately ridicule your Third Brother?“

- The attitude and style one shows when playing chess

Ren Yaoqi looked at them in surprise when she heard the words, and then said to Ren Shimin with an aggrieved face: “Daddy, isn’t this daughter resuming the game with Third Brother? I thought I was going to follow Young Master Han’s way. I… …I’m not trying to play tricks on Third Brother…”

Ren Shimin looked at Ren Yaoqi’s crying appearance and hurriedly said: “Yaoyao, Daddy is not blaming you. Daddy is just worried…”

”Wait, you said you were following Yunqian’s chess strategy?” Ren Yijun interrupted Ren Shimin in astonishment.

Ren Shimin was also taken aback: “Is this what Yunqian did?”

Ren Yaoqi nodded affirmatively, with an innocent face: “Yes, didn’t you realize that Young Master Han always wins you a little bit every time? At most, it will not be more than five pieces. I saw that you were very happy to lose, so I thought it’s a recent trend.”

Ren Yijun’s face turned livid: “How is this possible!”

Ren Yaoqi saw that he didn’t believe her, so she moved a few pieces on the chessboard, gestured, and said: “Look, when you play here, he can clearly… beat you neatly like this.”

The situation on Ren Yijun’s side on the chessboard has taken a turn for the worse, and it is no longer the stalemate that was evenly matched before.

”But he didn’t do that.” Ren Yaoqi glanced at Ren Yijun sympathetically, “Young Master Han may have good intentions, because he was afraid that you would lose too badly. After all, the two families will still be in contact in the future, so it saves you some face...”

Seeing that, Ren Yijun still refused to believe that he was being tricked when he put all his strength against the opponent.

Ren Yaoqi shook her head and resumed the previous games one by one, but the style of chess changed drastically later on, and Ren Yijun lost most of his games every time.

In the end, Ren Yijun’s complexion could be described as black as the bottom of a pot³.

- Face darkening, becoming mad or gloomy

Ren Shimin watched the game dumbfounded, finally sighed softly, and patted Ren Yaoqi’s head: “Okay, Yaoyao, don’t be angry with your Third Brother. He hates it when others disrespect their opponents when playing chess.”

”Hmph!” Ren Yijun snorted coldly and turned his head away, extremely mad.

Ren Yaoqi said casually: “Daddy once said that a person’s temperament can be seen from the way he plays chess. Young Master Han is a very good chess player, but he likes to hide his true strength. Obviously, he can win beautifully, but it seems not straightforward enough. It seems a bit too… deliberate.”

Ren Shimin couldn’t help thinking when he heard the words.

Ren Yaoqi slowly picked up the chess pieces on the chessboard, and carefully put them back into the fine white porcelain chess pot one by one.

”Originally, I found him very congenial, and I wanted to make friends with him in the future. Looking at him now, I really don’t like people with this kind of temperament!” Ren Yijun expressed with a cold face. He himself has a weird temper and often turns faces like flipping a book⁴, his usual gloomy expression returned to his face at this moment.

- Frequently changing moods

Ren Shimin sighed: “No one is perfect in this world, there are very few people who have both talents and virtues after all. Young Master Han is also from a family of merchants. He was the only male in the Han family in his generation. According to what he said, he is normally in the academy in Yunyang City. When traveling with the elders in the family, it's quite normal to have the cautious temperament of businessmen.” Speaking of which, the Ren family is also a merchant, but Ren Shimin has always looked down upon merchants.

This kind of analysis is also reasonable, Ren Yaoqi thought happily while covering the chess pot.

She didn’t care much about the saying 'Chess reflects Character'. She didn’t care whether Young Master Han deliberately concede on chess, or whether his original chess skills were really similar to Ren Shimin and Ren Yijun.

She just didn’t want the two men in front of her to have such a good impression of Han Yunqian that they wouldn’t be reconciled if they didn’t abduct him into the family and become their son-in-law and brother-in-law.

Although she didn’t know if the Ren family was unfortunate in the past life because the Han family had a hand in it, but keeping a distance from the Han family is the safest way.

She did not reproach herself for secretly tarnishing a man’s character. A man who broke his promise in a marriage contract, no matter what his reasons were, she loathed it.

After the man broke off his engagement, he could still marry a beautiful and delicate lady. However, a woman's life was ruined because of this. The tragedy of Ren Yaohua in the past life was caused by the Han family and the Ren family together.

After this incident, another two days passed. The Han family sent someone to send a post inviting Ren Shimin and Ren Yijun to visit the Han Estate. Ren Shimin was busy mounting paintings at the time, so he politely declined. Ren Yijun simply claimed to be sick and never saw anyone.

Afterward, the Han family invited them two more times. Neither Ren Shimin nor Ren Yijun went, but Fifth Master Ren Shimao and Eldest Young Master Ren Yiyan went once.

It’s almost the end of the year, and the winter this year is extremely cold. People would not go out if they could not go out, and there was a lot less entertainment in winter, so the Han family did not send any more posts.

Ren Yaoyu’s confinement was finally relieved, but she could no longer return to the Old Madam’s yard. Since then, she and Ren Yaoying have become enemies. Her attitude towards Ren Yaohua, whom she originally regarded as an enemy, eased a lot.

Another change is that the Ren family’s Third Young Master, Ren Yijun, who had an odd temper and had a cold relationship with all his siblings, suddenly became kind to Fifth Young Lady. He often braved the wind and snow and came to the Ziwei Courtyard with crutches to play chess with Fifth Young Lady Ren Yaoqi. This made everyone in the Ren family puzzled and astonished, only the Third Master was not surprised and remained calm as before.

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